I am in the process of refurbishing my seats. They've been taken apart and are being cleaned up in preparation for new upholstery. While dismantling I noticed the that each seat had 1 metal side bolster that was bent inward. It appears to be factory but I cannot tell for certain. I have not been able to source a pic to see if this is, in fact, correct or if this was someone's creative attempt at fluffing up the sides...

Can anyone here enlighten me. Maybe a few pics if anyone has some?

 

Is it the side that's closest to the doors? If it is, it's because of people getting in and out over the years and sliding across the bolster and bending them. I've dealt with this myself.

 

How are you cleaning them? Rust remover and painting the metal parts?

 

Edge: Yes it's the sides closest to the door. They're folded over like 45*. I thought it looked weird but wanted to make sure since both sides were bent the same. I guess I will be doing some straightening.

Mikos_89: yes, Everything has been cleaned. It was gross! I left it all out side to dry better (like an idiot) and it rained overnight so the metal has even more surface rust. I have some rust remover that works well so I'll be treating the rust and painting everything to try and preserve it all as long as possible.

Right now it's just about getting everything ready for upholstery. I have some sample material being sent my way since my original interior is Light Saddle and nothing seems to match.

I'm going to try and add pics to my thread as I tackle various bits here and there.

Thanks for the responses!

 

You're in the same situation I was in. Light saddle tan. I ended up going with Beachwood Hampton vinyl seat covers, which are very convincing. You'd think they were leather. Fantastic material. I re-colored the interior panels with Camel SEM die/paint

 

Looks great! I did get the new carpet in Camel which we thought was a little dark but when we tried SEM Saddle tan paint it was too brown. I was going to have some custom stuff mixed up locally to see if I could get closer to the light saddle. If that does not work, it looks like the SEM Camel will do the trick. Also, thanks for pics of the seats. I'd love leather but that's too pricey so it was a toss up between vinyl and cloth- since they both seem to be the same price.

Now you have me leaning toward the vinyl.

 

You'll like that vynil. It's soft and it's not 1970's Pinto vinyl hot either. I had cloth originally but that cloth is not available in any of the covers. It's a different material and I didn't like the way it looked. There are guys here that know what that stuff was called. It was particular. But no one reproduces it so I went with the Hampton. Love it!

I recommend getting it installed by an upholstery shop. It's not a simple slip on. It had to be massaged, heated and stretched in places. Unless you know what you're doing of course.

 

The exact paint for our Beechwood interior is SEM 4310. You'll need a paint shop to custom mix it for you.

 

How did you prep the plastic before painting it?

 

SEM has a panel cleaner that you basically use scothbrite with and give it a scrub. Then there's an adhesion promoter that you spray on it.

 

Thanks…. your interior looks great! I was worried about the scotch-bright scratching the surface finish. My parts are black so I don’t know if it would be worth it to paint them or just use a plastic protectant on them.

 

Thanks. You won't damage the panel with scotch bright. You're just basically cleaning and opening it up to accept the SEM die. It works very well

 

EDGE: If possible can we get a few more pics of the interior plastics? I have been trying to match the light saddle to no avail. Even had the paint store use their machine to match the paint and it comes out looking orange.

I had tried the SEM Saddle tan but it comes out looking more brown so I am leaning towards your set-up. Additionally, I am speaking with a vendor on getting the right seat color. They sent me 3 crappy samples and when I told them none of them were even close they sent me an email with 25 other "options". Ugh. This is tedious.

I ordered this headliner material (from Amazon) and it was enough to cover the headliner, speaker panels and do the visors which we're still working on:

Hiksuky Headliner Fabric with Foam Backing - Automotive Roof Replacement Material for Car, SUV, Pickup, RV Interior Repair DIY 96"x60" (Beige)

It has an orange-ish hue but I think it will work fine.

 

I can get you a few pics. Just need about a day because the cars masked up right now for paint and I can't open the door. Here's a couple of what I do have that's on my phone right now. The door panel was died with the exact same SEM camel. The seats are Hampton Vinyl Saddle (Tan) Rear Seat Split

 

Perfect. Thank you! I think this could work for us.

 

No problem. If you need anything in particular let me know.

 

Do you have any pics or info on how you redid the center fabric on the door cards? We need to fix ours as well.

 

The old material was removed as best as it could be. Basically shaved as flat as possible. Then a 1/4 inch (been a while may have been. 1/8 inch) piece of plywood was cut to that shape, wrapped in the Alcantara then fastened to the door with Plastic fir tree plugs which were trimmed a bit shorter due to space restraints. Had to drill some holes. Then some heavy duty nylon thread that was pulled through and fastend with a small piece of bar stock, like nail sized by basically twisting it until it was tight up against the back of the panel. The panel was also padded up before the Alcantara went in so that it would be plush. Sorry I don't have any pics of the back of the panel

 

Thanks. I was thinking it was something like that but I wanted to make sure.